It’s 40 years ago and a fraudster goes into your local bank branch.

He forges your signature and makes a withdrawal from your account.

When you discover the crime and report it to the bank, your account is naturally refunded at once. It’s the bank’s problem. It’s also the bank’s fault, you’d probably say.

Today, much has changed. It’s still the bank’s job to safeguard clients’ money.

But because we access our cash and accounts in so many different ways, and can transact so much more quickly, the issue of who carries the risk of fraud has become blurred.

In general the risk has been pushed further on to us, the customers, and away from the bank.

The banking industry talks of “identity theft” as though it were a recent phenomenon. But it’s not new, it’s just the 21st century equivalent of forging your signature.